I Recognize You

"D?"

Roger, the clueless man, much like the future Luffy, had a habit of never reading newspapers. But when Nozdon uttered the letter "D," Roger's expression instantly changed.

Meanwhile, the second round of battle between Alucard and Rayleigh had officially begun.

Rayleigh's right eye bore a deep scar, blood constantly dripping from the wound. His glasses had long since been cut in half, but for a master of Observation Haki like Rayleigh, whether his eyes could see clearly was irrelevant.

His Observation Haki was more than enough to compensate!

At such close range, even without his eyes, he could clearly see the bloodied hole in Alucard's face rapidly healing.

"What in the world is this guy...?"

"What's wrong? It's just a scratched eyelid. You can still attack, can't you?" Alucard suddenly spoke, his body seemingly unharmed. He raised his white pistol, Casull. "If you won't make a move, I'll go first."

No sooner had he spoken than Alucard shot forward like an arrow released from a bow. Although his eye injury significantly impacted Rayleigh, for a man like him, it wasn't enough to diminish his combat prowess.

WHOOSH~~

Suddenly, a strange sound vibrated in Rayleigh's ears, and he felt an eerie ripple emanate from beneath his feet. Looking down, he saw countless shadowy arms, condensed from the ground's shadow, darting out. Each, like Alucard, wore white gloves and reached out to grasp him.

"The ability to control shadows?" Rayleigh wondered aloud. His right hand's longsword slashed violently, bisecting all the shadow hands. The next second, they melted like ice, re-merging into the shadow. But they didn't stop; an unending stream of new hands reached out.

"Does it have the same immortality as its master? What kind of monstrous kid is this?!" Rayleigh scoffed, suddenly increasing his sword speed.

In an instant, he swung dozens of times, slicing all of Alucard's shadow hands into ribbons. Yet, they remained undying, continuously regenerating and reaching out.

If it were a typical opponent, they would have likely lost their will to fight, terrified by this grotesque regeneration.

"Then, only by defeating the master will they disappear!" Rayleigh surmised, engaging Alucard once more. Both became blurs, continuously clashing.

Apprentice pirates like Buggy couldn't clearly discern the fight, but from appearances, it seemed evenly matched. Buggy couldn't resist pretending to understand. "Oh~~ that kid's pretty good, he's holding his own against Rayleigh-san."

"Buggy, did you actually see that clearly?" Gaban interjected, dispelling Buggy's false bravado without mercy. "Rayleigh has the upper hand. That kid, despite being a freak, is ultimately young, and his strength is still quite limited."

"No, that's not right," Roger interjected. "On the surface, Rayleigh has the upper hand, but look more closely."

"Hm?"

Everyone in the pirate crew immediately doubled their focus, and the movements of Rayleigh and Alucard in battle became clearer.

They saw it!

Indeed, in terms of technique, Rayleigh had the upper hand, constantly landing successful attacks on Alucard. Many times, Rayleigh's attacks would hit Alucard ten times before Alucard might land even one hit on Rayleigh.

However, every single time Alucard landed a hit, it caused damage to Rayleigh. Conversely, no matter how many times Rayleigh successfully attacked or how severely he wounded Alucard, Alucard's wounds would heal and regenerate.

"Alucard the Immortal... now I understand why the newspapers comment on him that way," Nozdon gritted his teeth.

Rayleigh, as the second-in-command of the pirate crew, was rarely pushed to such a degree even by Marine Admirals. Or rather, Alucard's fight was completely a cross-tier battle.

Even if Rayleigh's level was indeed higher than his, perhaps by several tiers, what did it matter? You couldn't kill him, you couldn't fatally wound him. On the contrary, he could do all of that to you, it would just take a bit longer.

"Captain Roger, let's go help! Rayleigh-san is already heavily injured, that guy is a monster, a monster!"

Hours later, the west coast of Water 7 was left in ruins.

As Alucard and Rayleigh exchanged over a thousand blows, a shot from Casull struck Rayleigh's right leg, causing him to stumble.

Seeing Rayleigh battered and bruised while Alucard remained completely unharmed, Buggy finally couldn't hold back his panic and yelled at Roger.

Roger had a strange rule in battle: if his opponent was alone, he would never take advantage of them; he insisted on resolving the issue through a one-on-one fight.

This was why no other member of the Roger Pirates had intervened during Rayleigh and Alucard's extended battle. But seeing Rayleigh gradually showing signs of defeat, Buggy was the first to panic, shouting with snot running down his face.

Roger chuckled confidently, "What's the rush? My partner won't lose that easily!"

On the heavily battered coastline, Alucard stood atop a large boulder, looking down at Rayleigh, and said, "I recognize you. Roger Pirates, Vice Captain Rayleigh."

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